Zardari seeks working terms with President

NEW YORK, —Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that he would seek a working relationship with President Pervez Musharraf since their coalition government may not be able to impeach him. “The ground reality is that we do not have two-thirds majority in both the houses of Parliament” that would be required for a successful impeachment, Zardari said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“Our main objective is to work for the smooth transition to democracy,” he said. “We want to unify the country, which is facing some very serious challenges,” Zardari said. “We have to establish democracy and for that we need unity and not confrontation,” he added.
Zardari confirmed that Amin Fahim, a senior party leader, was the front-runner for the slot of Prime Minister. “We will name the candidate when the party is invited to form the government,” he said.
Zardari said his government would increase cooperation with the U.S., adding that Pakistan faces its own threat from the extremists. “We are fighting our own war on terror, rather than the American war on terror,” he said. Zardari said his government wouldn’t talk to the militants, but that it would reach out to the people living in the tribal areas. “We will take democracy there and political reforms to win the support of the tribesmen.”—Agencies